As a loyal listener to Iain Lee and Katherine Boyle’s weird and wonderful night-time antics on talkRADIO, I’m deeply saddened that The Late Night Alternative has come to a sudden end as Iain’s contract hasn’t been renewed.
For the last four years, the multi-ARIA winning phone-in has been a welcome three hours of escapism offering a sanctuary of fun and games together with real human stories and several life-saving calls. It was one of the last remaining "anything goes" phone-in shows on UK radio.
When Global acquired LBC 97.3 from Chrysalis, Nick Ferrari had the breakfast peak and it made sense for them to focus on newstalk ahead of going national.
Consistency is a key element of most successful radio stations in today’s well-targeted media landscape and obviously has a place.
However, I'm a passionate believer in the value of surprise. It doesn't get more exciting than when you literally can’t switch off in fear of missing whatever might happen next.
Speech radio has historically been very expensive and loss-making. Just a few months ago, News UK - part of billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire - argued talkRADIO had "very limited" income and relied on internal sponsorship revenue in a sleazy attempt to dodge a £75k Ofcom penalty.
In late 2007, Channel 4 sold its controlling stake in Oneword Radio back to UBC for £1 with the "commercial alternative to Radio 4" (books, drama, comedy etc) reportedly losing around £1m a year. It closed in January 2008.
News UK has just announced the launch date and schedule for Times Radio, also being touted as a R4 rival. The difference is its owner’s virtually limitless budget (so much so it’ll be ad break-free) and ability to cross-promote in a well-established newspaper.
Although Times Radio is likely to feature more non-newstalk content than any other speech station, given the newspaper's credentials and the business model being based on driving digital subscriptions, it couldn't be further from the likes of Iain Lee, Jon Holmes and Tommy Boyd.
Niche stations serving smaller audiences are now being launched on DAB with minimal running costs - as working from home is showing, it’s possible to make savings by thinking outside the box.
As we explore new models, is there really no gap in the market for speech radio that’s not current affairs or sport? The success and continued growth of podcasts may suggest otherwise.
talkRADIO launched under different ownership (UTV) with barely any marketing. It debuted with a respectable 224k in RAJAR Q2 2016. The shift towards mostly news-driven programming has, inevitably, happened under News UK.
Is there an opportunity to be had?
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